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Update your site at least every 3 months,

and it'll never be dropped by Google for the reason of old content.

         

Alcogooglic

12:02 am on Apr 27, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



A. The Google subdivides all indexed sites into several categories:

1. Updated in the past 3 months
2. Updated in the past 6 months (except past 3 mo)
3. Updated in the past year (except past 6 mo)
4. Updated in the anytime (except past year)

You may reveal all these categories in the G's Advanced Search in the line started with "Date ..."

B. Many surfers use the Advanced Search with the setting "Return web pages updated in the past 3 months". So, this group of Google users will never see sites that are older than 3 months.

C. Thus, if you update your site every 3 months, the Google will never drop it from SER for the reason of old content. Otherwise, sometimes it'll be dropped in spite of your PR9 and fine art of SEO.

D. Now, the question is whether it’s really necessary (for the sake of SERP only) to update site every week or even every day?

AhmedF

12:06 am on Apr 27, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



but how 'much' needs to be updated?

What if you just change a word or two? ;)

Alcogooglic

12:22 am on Apr 27, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



AhmedF,

If you add a space in the end of your page, or even merely re-upload it to the server without any modification, then the page will have new attribute “Date of Modification”, which will be returned to the Google together with your page content and other stuff. However, this trick is not good. Much better is actually to change about 5% of your text.

Chris_R

12:34 am on Apr 27, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



FYI - you used to be able to edit the 6 or 3 for number of months in the url to other digits such as 1 - to then see pages only last month.

Don't know if this still works - I haven't used the feature in months - and am curious as to how many actually do.

decaff

12:54 am on Apr 27, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



Thanks for the helpful post Alcogooglic,

A. The Google subdivides all indexed sites into several categories:
1. Updated in the past 3 months
2. Updated in the past 6 months (except past 3 mo)
3. Updated in the past year (except past 6 mo)
4. Updated in the anytime (except past year)

You may reveal all these categories in the G's Advanced Search in the line started with "Date ..."

B. Many surfers use the Advanced Search with the setting "Return web pages updated in the past 3 months". So, this group of Google users will never see sites that are older than 3 months.

This makes sense...folks are looking for fresh, relevant content on a regular basis and this is definitely a foundation brick in Google's algo (I'm still trying to figure out what that little attic window is for?)

C. Thus, if you update your site every 3 months, the Google will never drop it from SER for the reason of old content. Otherwise, sometimes it'll be dropped in spite of your PR9 and fine art of SEO.

It's really quite simple....Google provides this advanced search service to its "user base" so that they can find "fresh ""REAL"" content" not "a space entered, removed, page saved and uploaded to directory"....I believe Google is attempting to serve up useful "fresh" content, not date stamp change tricks....

D. Now, the question is whether it’s really necessary (for the sake of SERP only) to update site every week or even every day?

If you have an establish site that is seeing freshbot regularly then the answer is "absolutely" deliver some "real" changes to your pages that are in the SERPs and you will stay in the game....because you can bet that if all the competitors around your listing are doing this, and you aren't, good bye useful SERPs listing...always build for the benefit of the end user, first, and then consider the algo's needs...

Alcogooglic

1:05 am on Apr 27, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Chris_R,

Actually your technology is still working!
Edit your query from "as_qdr=m3" to "as_qdr=m1" to see pages only last month.

Unfortunately, I cannot guess right query for last weeks or days, if that is possible at all?

TomWaits

1:13 am on Apr 27, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



I've got sites that rank high on Goo that haven't been changed for a few years. A lot of people do.

Alcogooglic

1:21 am on Apr 27, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



TomWaits,

You can see those sites using Regular Goo search. However, if somebody uses Advanced Search with the Date setting other than Anytime, then all those sites will be dropped.

Alcogooglic

1:29 am on Apr 27, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



decaff,

Thanks for your helpful comments and answer.

kevinpate

1:32 am on Apr 27, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



Out of curiosity ... in other threads it's discussed that A. Verage Surfer doesn't know PR, doesn't know or care about the meaning behind Google serving the results at yahoo, iwon, aol, netscape, and isn't overly curious even about how to change the number of returns per page from 10 to 20 or to 100.

If that's remotely accurate, I suspect that when joe or jane surfer type 'blue widgets' into the base search window, whether that window is serviced through google or otherwise, if anything useful is in the first 10-20 returns, joe or jane is happy, done and rapidly heading off to play a game, pet the kitty or jumping into an im window with a buddy.

Alcogooglic

2:32 am on Apr 27, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



kevinpate,

You are absolutely right about 'joe or jane surfers'…
If I’m not mistaken, many people here eager to bring those Joes or Janes to their sites…

Now, there is a big question about SEO…,
and there is a little question (in this thread) whether it’s really necessary (for the sake of SERP only) to update site every week or even every day?…
That is necessary for being included in those first 10-20 returns…
That is necessary for bringing those Joes or Janes to our sites…
That is necessary for…

Thanks

jady

2:36 am on Apr 27, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Even on non-fresh pages, we have a site that gets updated annually (at most) with a good PR of 5 - no markeing what-so-ever - just good initial setup. Ranks #1 for competetive search term... Glad about it, but cant figure why no body can beat us out! Just my 2 cents..

PFOnline

2:45 am on Apr 27, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Ooh, my site jumps to the first page of Google results (from the 2nd page) for my sites main keyword using the advanced feature "only sites updated in past 3 months"...

Too bad its not Google default. ;)

Nice feature, never tried it before, thanks.

Alcogooglic

3:04 am on Apr 27, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Jady,

If your competitive search term costs 2 cents per click (paid to Overture)
and is displayed as Sponsored Link by other Search Engines,
and nobody wants to pay 5 cents to beat you out…
…maybe that means your search term isn’t very competitive?

[edited by: Alcogooglic at 3:28 am (utc) on April 27, 2003]

Oaf357

3:11 am on Apr 27, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Hmm... I honestly think you should update your web site daily in some way, shape, or form. If not daily, then weekly.

This way freshbot stays busy on your site.

Alcogooglic

3:23 am on Apr 27, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Too bad its not Google default. ;)
Nice feature

PFOnline, I'm 100% agreed...

If your opinion is shared by everyone, maybe the Google could put it as default and make older sites available via the link If you like, you can repeat the search with the omitted results included, which at present is located after the last search result returned…

PFOnline

3:30 am on Apr 27, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Hmm Alcogooglic, I like the idea purely from a webmasters standpoint because it helped my ranking, hehe...

But from Google's and a "good search results standpoint", it's probably better that Google's default isn't set this way...

If your going on relevancy, just because a site hasn't been updated in years doesn't mean it couldn't be exactly what the searcher was looking for. :)

PFOnline

3:33 am on Apr 27, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



In other words, Google would become the "only sites that stay updated" search engine.

And webmasters would probably just make minor changes to there site, like discussed earlier, just to stay in the results.

Alcogooglic

3:51 am on Apr 27, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



PFOnline,

When cave man (who hasn’t access to the Internet) was looking for information, he usually used one of the two main sources:

1. Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedia,
2. Newspaper

So, the question is which version of the Google could be more relevant:

1. Google in the form of Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedia or
2. Google in the form of Newspaper or
3. Google in the form of Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedia with the fresh update on the TOP

As for minor changes to there site, just to stay in the results… I think Google is smart enough to filter them

Oaf357

3:56 am on Apr 27, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



One would hope that a file size change would be implemented for this but, eh, who knows really?

pageoneresults

4:05 am on Apr 27, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



However, this trick is not good. Much better is actually to change about 5% of your text.

Alcogooglic, Welcome to WebmasterWorld!

The keyword in that sentence is trick. Anytime that word is associated with search engine marketing, there are associated risks.

How many of you use date and time stamps?

This page last updated: 2003-04-26T21:10:00-0700

Oaf357

4:20 am on Apr 27, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



A seemingly more interesting trick would be to add content related RSS feeds to your site (news for example). That way everytime freshbot comes around the content has changed somewhat.

There are a lot of tools out there that make it relatively easy to do this. Wouldn't Google try and account for that?

chiyo

4:27 am on Apr 27, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



Maybe i missed it, but i cant yet see the connection between

1. Update your site at least every 3 months
and
2. You will never be dropped from Google for reason of old content.

Has any clear evidence been presented re this, or are we making some leaps in faith inbetween based just on the fact that Google DOES know when changes are made? Im sure Google does use this info - but we do not know when.how - maybe indeciding freshbot visits, certainly in providing the capability to search based on last updated time, and it makes sense to make it count in the algo in some way too. But are we not making an assumption here?

(sorry if i missed it - just direct me to the relevant post)

PFOnline

4:34 am on Apr 27, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



chiyo, I was a bit confused at first too...

Go to Google advanced search and change the "Date: anytime" to 3 months and do a search and look at the difference. :)

chiyo

4:54 am on Apr 27, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



Ah I can see the difference PF Online. Thanks.

One more question. How many people would actually use that functionality. I maybe remember using it once in 3 years, and i search a lot! As a percentage of queries, I would guess this use would be infinitesimal and just not significant at all. Is there any other ways that Google may use this info apart from in advanced search?

kpaul

4:56 am on Apr 27, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I say update your site/content on a daily/weekly basis to primarily keep your visitors happy. Making the gbot happy is just a positive side effect of taking care of your website visitors. Sure, you want to know what google likes and dislikes, but most of the time something that will help your visitors is something that will help you with gbot.

Content is still king, imho. ;)

chiyo

5:03 am on Apr 27, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



not old fashioned kpaul... You just miss the point :)

SEO is the art of getting your page ranked higher against competitive listings than the actual content and visitor-utility deserves.

That has been the motivation of SEO ever since the first search engines

If it was all as you say, 95% of the visitors to www would not be here...

<tongue in cheek>

Oaf357

6:34 am on Apr 27, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



A very valid point, chiyo.

However, I'll also agree that web sites shouldn't exsist strictly for the organization's benefit but for the benefit of that site's visitors.

Call me a good guy or whatever but...

CONTENT IS KING.

rossH

6:43 am on Apr 27, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



chiyo that's a good point nicely put :) but I think as we got away from optimizing for AV and Ink, and had to deal with Google, we started grooming our content and visitor-utility somewhat more carefully

I'd guess more web pages have become more focused on their themes because of the need to please G than would otherwise have been the case .. there's a cleanup that happens, and that increased clarity I think brings a benefit to the users

content was always king, but G made it valuable to craft the whole content and context, holistically

about changing content - I don't think perfect content needs to be refreshed - there's a top to every pyramid, and those sites that haven't changed in years are at the top, google seems to agree (on good days ;)

speaking as a user also, may those pages never change, as long as they remain useful may they long remain perfectly in place, so we all can run those lovely Google searches that show us *the* definitive answer at pr1, time and time again

ross

madweb

9:33 am on Apr 27, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



From a user point of view, It really depends on what the content is as to whether it matters that it has been updated recently.

e.g.

If I am searching for how to service my 1995 Ford Fiesta, a page from 1999 could be Ideal

But if I was searching for how to SEO for google, a page from 1999 would not be relevant.

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